Good afternoon, everyone. I hope everyone is doing well. I would like to share with you all a situation that occurred this afternoon that shed light on how amazing, skillful, and selfless our cath lab team at UPMC Western Maryland is.

A patient arrived at our ED after a sudden collapse while fishing; unfortunately, until now, he remains identified as John Doe. He was found to be in complete heart block and unstable. I was asked to help. I decided to place a temporary transvenous pacemaker in the ED; once that was accomplished, we decided to take him to the cath lab emergently because I was worried he was suffering from a heart attack. Everyone in the cath lab recognized the emergency situation, and every single person was available in the room to get him prepared ASAP. This was accomplished at the speed of light, and shortly after, we recognized that this poor gentleman was instead suffering from Acute aortic dissection, which is considered a medical catastrophe.

As I was scrubbed in, one of our RN's was able to get on the line and contact the cardiac and vascular surgeons in Presbyterian Hospital to initiate a transfer for a complex and emergent operation, however he needed a CT scan done first. The entire cath team then accompanied the very sick patient down to the CT scanner and eventually took him back to the ED, assuming full and absolute responsibility for taking care of this gentleman until the chopper arrived to pick him up in Pittsburgh. I was there with them in the ED, and they were caring for him as if he were on the cath table.

Please note: I did not ask a single person to do anything beyond their comfort, such as leaving the cath lab or going to other units/departments. They all did it out of dedication, love, and passion for their jobs. I am very proud of them.

P.S. The patient made it safely to Pittsburgh and is now going to the operating room.